What kind of wild animals have you seen while camping?

[Cenvalleysteel]

How about the Armadillo soup bowls starting in New Mexico and all the way East to Georgia?

[Flyrotor]

Grizzly bears, black bear, bison, moose, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, big horn sheep, elk, deer, antelope, mountain goats, bald eagles, pheasant, roadrunners, wild turkeys, rattle snake, tarantulas.

[bankr63]

We've seen tons, Ontario Provincial Parks where we normally camp have a plethora of wildlife, especially in shoulder season when they reclaim their territory.

My two closest encounters. One night sitting by the campfire I heard a rustle beneath my chair. A skunk wandered out between my legs and mosied (sp?) over to the woods. Didn't bother him a bit, but my heart stopped for a few counts.

A couple of years ago I walked around back of the camper and thought, 'how did my power cord get doubled over.' It was a large black rat snake hanging out, and I almost reached down and grabbed him before I realized what it was. Beautiful beast and endangered and rare in the area. He hung around for a while before climbing a tree and disappearing from sight.

Here he is a few minutes after I discovered him. We ended up with a crowd in our campsite checking him out.



And here he is just a couple of minutes after I found him:

[DennisH]

Deer, Elk, Coyote, Beaver, and this guy.

[TCNashville]

I've seen lots of animals but my favorite was a 7' Indiana Timber rattler. Absolutely beautiful snake. They're endangered but making a comeback due to the diligence of the Indiana DNR.

[JimD]

Grandkids! And they were INSIDE our rig.

[jack69]

I live in the beautiful NW with many mountain lakes, so too many really to list, but here are some.

I've seen, Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Jays, Owls, deer, elk, black bears, foxes etc.
Most of these on my website were on camping trips with my trailer:

Jack Moskovita's Mountains, Lakes, Wildlife & Birds Photographer

[campersam9]

Last night we got set up ate dinner. We walked the dogs and left the dry dog food in a sealed container outside by our trailer. We forgot all about it. Then our English setter started barking. We went to see what has her upset. It was a gator! We have never been around anything like that. We got back in the trailer and never came out until morning. Florida memories!

[Merrick]

Dont put a chicken carcass in your outside trash can. Raccoon snuck up, we saw it and put the flash light on it. It carefully backed up the tree with the carcass, making sure we weren't after it.

[ronsmithcma]

We started our RV camping experience last fall and a bird watcher and have saw three species I've never seen before.... Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Phoebe and a Great Crested Flycather. If you have a cellphone, I recommend you download the Merlin app by The Cornell Lab. It helps you identify birds based on size, colour, location and what they were doing at the time. It also has the calls/songs of each species which can be fun. Late in the fall we booked a secluded site in the Pinery Provincial Park and had a small family of Wild Turkeys returning the calls from the app I was playing. After a few days, they felt comfortable enough to stroll by our campsite only about 20 feet away.

Whereever we go, at night our dog growls at animals inspecting our site which I assume are either raccoons or skunks.

Enjoy the RV experience!

Ron & Eva

[ronsmithcma]

Originally Posted by F350guy

This was taken out of our back window this past September in Estes Park, Co. The big guy had a puncture wound above a front leg, most likely from fighting since it was the middle of the rut. He hung around our rv park a couple of weeks recuperating. Not an uncommon sight since it seems there as many elk as people in EP at times.

Nice picture. I saw a deer limping on the outskirts of Banff, Alberta for a few days while I was attending a conference there. No doubt wounded animals feel safer around humans as predators like wolf, coyote and bears tend to keep they distance from humans.

Ron

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by ronsmithcma

We started our RV camping experience last fall and a bird watcher and have saw three species I've never seen before.... Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Phoebe and a Great Crested Flycather. If you have a cellphone, I recommend you download the Merlin app by The Cornell Lab. It helps you identify birds based on size, colour, location and what they were doing at the time. It also has the calls/songs of each species which can be fun. Late in the fall we booked a secluded site in the Pinery Provincial Park and had a small family of Wild Turkeys returning the calls from the app I was playing. After a few days, they felt comfortable enough to stroll by our campsite only about 20 feet away.

Whereever we go, at night our dog growls at animals inspecting our site which I assume are either raccoons or skunks.

Enjoy the RV experience!

Ron & Eva

Love the Merlin app! We get tufted titmouse (mice?) at our feeder all the time.

[16WhiteColly]

Deer, raccoon, snake, bison, skunk, prairie dog, birds, turtles, alligators, fish, cranes, Fox, and others that I can’t think of at the moment.

[Brownie]

Squirrels are as common as . . . well, squirrels! But last summer, while enjoying my morning coffee under my awning at a Michigan State Park, I was fascinated by two squirrels at the site next to mine. The occupants weren't around (probably went out for breakfast), but they had evidently enjoyed making s'mores around the campfire the night before. And they had left their bag of s'more-sized marshmallows (the big square ones) out in the open. As I watched, two grey squirrels took turns stealing marshmallows from the bag. Each squirrel would remove a single marshmallow, carry it back to it's nesting tree, climb the tree with the marshmallow in its mouth, and tuck it into its nest. Then it would return to the campsite for another marshmallow. It was like watching diners at buffet. Each squirrel repeated this action 4 or five times, until all of the mallows were gone.

That night, a strong wind came up, and the next morning, there were marshmallows all over the ground, and in the lower branches of the trees. As the Campground Host, it was my responsibility to pick them up and dispose of them. But I was laughing the entire time!

[Camper_bob]

As a younger man, I backpacked ... A LOT. One night backpacking in New Mexico, we decided to sleep under the stars. We were up on a flat, camped in a field, and we just threw down our pads, bags, and fell asleep gazing at the stars (and you could see ALL of them!). Well at some point during the night, I was awoken to a thumping on the ground. I stirred awake, but didn't move a muscle. Just listened for a moment. Heard it again and again, and began hearing a gentle "ripping" sound as well. I opened my eyes wider and began to turn my head to see if I could see anything. In the starlight, I saw a herd of deer grazing around us. We were scattered across the field relatively sparsely, and the animals were grazing in between and all around us.

The thumping was their hooves on the ground, and the "ripping" was them tearing the grass as they grazed.

Others awoke as well. We were all well experienced enough to know NOT to make any sudden movements lest we get trampled. Not a word was spoken. Those of us who woke up simply watched for a while and then dozed back to sleep. The next morning (and for days/weeks/years later) we all recounted the unique experience to each other and others.

That has to be my most interesting/unique wildlife encounter while camping.

Again, backpacking, we camped above the tree-line one night. No place to hang a "bear bag", but bears weren't the problem. It was Marmots! They were EVERYWHERE up there. We slept with our food between us in the tents so the Marmots couldn't get at it!

Of course, I've seen all manner of animals before and since, but I think those two are about the most "memorable".

[jack69]

Originally Posted by Brownie

Squirrels are as common as . . . well, squirrels! But last summer, while enjoying my morning coffee under my awning at a Michigan State Park, I was fascinated by two squirrels at the site next to mine. The occupants weren't around (probably went out for breakfast), but they had evidently enjoyed making s'mores around the campfire the night before. And they had left their bag of s'more-sized marshmallows (the big square ones) out in the open. As I watched, two grey squirrels took turns stealing marshmallows from the bag. Each squirrel would remove a single marshmallow, carry it back to it's nesting tree, climb the tree with the marshmallow in its mouth, and tuck it into its nest. Then it would return to the campsite for another marshmallow. It was like watching diners at buffet. Each squirrel repeated this action 4 or five times, until all of the mallows were gone.

That night, a strong wind came up, and the next morning, there were marshmallows all over the ground, and in the lower branches of the trees. As the Campground Host, it was my responsibility to pick them up and dispose of them. But I was laughing the entire time!

I have to say something here! I found out twice over the years that marshmallows kills birds, don't know about squirrels but apparently it expands the stomach or something... So not a good idea to have them out where they can get to them.

Squirrels can be quite funny, I watch them in my backyard everyday. They're smart and very agile. They're comical at times when they start playing around!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by jack69

I have to say something here! I found out twice over the years that marshmallows kills birds, don't know about squirrels but apparently it expands the stomach or something... So not a good idea to have them out where they can get to them.

Squirrels can be quite funny, I watch them in my backyard everyday. They're smart and very agile. They're comical at times when they start playing around!

My dad and I were tent-camping at a lake when I was a kid. It was one of MANY fishing trips we went on together. Somehow despite our efforts, the raccoons got into our food and stole an entire sleeve of bagels. We got a kick out of knowing that bugger probably felt like CRAP after he ate all those!! Can you imagine the expansion!

Never heard that about birds and marshmallows though. I know you're not supposed to feed them rice...

We have dealt with raccoons all my camping life, so we've learned to secure our foodstuffs at night. I have SEVERAL raccoon stories. In some of them, I'm even the victor! Smart and stubborn little buggers those are!!

[Lake Huron]

The squirrel story is a good one! Never heard the marshmallow and bird kill though. I will say turkeys are birds and they will eat anything as well. We've thrown out old, stale marshmallows in the back yard before and the turkeys have eaten them all gone. I'm certain none of them died because the next day it's the same amount in the flock as the day before. I've had as many as 30 in the back yard at one time. Normal numbers are around 25.

Some other camping friends of ours gave us a homemade sample of blueberry moonshine. All I can say was WOW!! GOOD STUFF! That sparked me into making a red fish vodka. My brew was done right around xmas and I strained and filtered it. The "mash" that was left over I didnt know what to do with. It tasted pretty good but had quite a bite to it. I took a cup full and poured it into a line over top of a bunch of corn at my animal feeder, just to see if something would eat it. Something came overnite and it was all gone. The rest of it was in a HUGE mixing bowl, so I dumped it out there the next nite and put more corn out, some on the mash and the rest away from it. Next morning, ALL the corn and the mash was GONE!! Oddly enough there was nothing passed out in my yard or anywhere in the woods in a 100yd radius of my house. To this day I have no idea what, or how many, could have come and ate all that.

[jack69]

Originally Posted by Lake Huron

The squirrel story is a good one! Never heard the marshmallow and bird kill though. I will say turkeys are birds and they will eat anything as well. We've thrown out old, stale marshmallows in the back yard before and the turkeys have eaten them all gone. I'm certain none of them died because the next day it's the same amount in the flock as the day before. I've had as many as 30 in the back yard at one time. Normal numbers are around 25.

Not a comparison at all... Turkeys are a huge Bird and eat almost everything. I'm talking about smaller birds eating marshmallows. I've seen it happen twice so it's a fact.

[LovinHavasu2]

Wasn't sure what it was at first but it had red hair. Closer it came the shrieking getting louder, realized my wife was running from a bear. As soon as she jumped into the trailer she locked the door with me outside.
The moral to this story is not to take your wife camping if she's the beneficiary of a large insurance policy.